Slowly but surely, she was growing on him. With her soft smiles she only showed when she thought he wasn't looking, she had found a back door in the fortress to his heart.

But I didn't feel fine another hour later. I already had a feeling soon after I finished my calls, but I just knew I was about to have another episode. It took a while before it really started coming, but after an hour it truly started getting bad. I felt almost worse as the day I found out I suffered from the mate loss syndrome, except this time I didn't have my soulmate next to me who could reduce the pain.
My arms and legs were numb, I was barely able to move them, they felt that weak. I also couldn't move my body underneath the covers after I started shivering from being cold. My heart ached painfully, my head felt as if someone thought it was a good part of a drum kit.
All in all, I just felt horrible. My mouth was dry, but I couldn't get up to drink some water, I was shaking and shivering all over, and I was sure my body temperature spiked to new levels that weren't healthy. I hated this, I had never felt this weak and helpless before.
That's how he found me, a few hours later. Tear stained cheeks, shivering body that felt hot as an oven. A terrible mess of a body.
"Sshh, sshh," he shushed me as I cried in pain pathetically. "It's okay, I'm here now. Just relax." He sat beside me on the bed carefully and held my head close to his chest while softly caressing my arms with his fingertips. If I hadn't felt so awful, it would have been perfect. This was what soulmates were supposed to act like. Caring, loving, helpful.
This time, it took long before I started feeling better. It must have been at least two hours before the last flashes of pain disappeared. I wanted to pretend that I was still in pain so I could enjoy feeling his arms around me for a little while longer, but he untangled himself from me and sat back." Feeling better?" he asked softly.
I nodded shyly. "Thank you," I whispered. "I left your phone on the desk."

He nodded. "It's yours now, if you want it. Then you can call your parents more often."
I didn't know what to say at that, I could only smiley broadly. In silence. Because after that none of us said something.
It was incredibly awkward actually.
Thank the gods that he decided to speak up after a full minute of uncomfortable silence, us just staring weirdly at the pillows on his couch.
"I'm taking you to the Fortis pack tomorrow."
"I'm sorry what?" I asked dumbfounded.
"Don't question me." His voice sounded harsh again, the previous two hours already long forgotten.
"I didn't mean to, I apologize, but I still don't understand," I said, my head casted down. I hoped that this way he would feel he was in charge again, nowthat I showed him submission.
"The Alpha of Power hosts the next Alpha meeting in the Fortis pack, and as I'man Alpha, I'm required to go. Usually only fully mated Luna's attend theseevents, but as you can't be left alone without being in pain, I'm inclined totake you there. Understood?" Even though he took his time to patiently explainwhy he would take me, his voice sounded as cool as ice. He seemed bipolar orsomething, being sweet and lovely one moment, being cold and mean the next.
I nodded in understanding before he turned around. "Take a shower and freshen up now, you smell. Tonight you eat your dinner with me downstairs."
I didn't know if I had to be happy at his statement or not. He thought I stank– which was only logical as I had been sick, - but he wanted me to eat dinner with him as well.
"There are towels and new clothes for you in the bathroom. Now be quick, dinner will be served in half an hour."
I happily complied, grateful for the gesture, after which I stumbled towards the bathroom, still finding it a bit difficult to walk without holding myself up to something. Without unlocking the door – if Aericon wanted to see me naked, he was more than welcome (I mean, it was progress, right?), and if he didn't, he knew I was in here, so why bother? – I undressed and turned on the warm water of the shower. Knowing that he was out there waiting for me to finish,I made it quick, just washing my hair with the first shampoo and conditioner I could find. I finished my shower by spraying some ice cold water over my whole body, as I had read somewhere that it wasn't only good for your skin, but it also gave your immune system a boost and I felt like I could use that.
It didn't take too long before I was completely finished. One of the maids – or Aericon himself, I don't know – had left me a long sleeved, grey dress to wear. It was kind of boring, actually, but when I found out it did cling on my body at the places it should, I felt pretty all the same. The low heels that were beside the dress made me sigh happily, as they were exact replica's of the heels I wore during the ceremony when I met the Alpha.
"Are you done yet?" sounded Aericon's voice through the door when I was just about to open that same door.
With a broad smile I opened it and stepped out, almost tripping over him. "I am, actually!"
He took a moment to watch me, or as I would like to think, he checked me out with an appreciating look on his face. Progress. Yay. As he was busy looking atme, I took my time looking at him – or maybe I was just downright staring with my mouth open – because for some reason, he looked incredibly hot today. He wore a normal white shirt and jeans, but he looked so good in them.
Did I already mention he was handsome?
Well, he was.
"Let's get you something to eat."

The food he got me was quite simple. It was homemade lasagne, warmed up in a frying pan, which made me feel like home. It was just the two of us, no one else was in the kitchen when he served me the food.
It almost felt like a date, except we didn't talk much. In the beginning, I mean. After a while he started explaining some things about the Fortis pack, how I should act, what I was about to do, how long we had to drive, etcetera. I was quite proud of us, how we just seemed to talk easily, as long as it wasn't about ourselves, and if you ignored the fact that his voice was still cold and monotone. I still had the feeling we were getting somewhere, slowly but surely.Maybe my undying love for him had already began to fly over? I certainly hoped so.